Legacy Lens for Indoor Basketball Games

Hi everyone, new to the forum but have been reading here for months. Great resource for one new to m43.(me)
I purchased an Epm1 a few months ago and have started picking up a few adapted lenses to play around with.
Am looking for a telephoto lens that can handle the sometimes dim lighting at my kids' basketball games but still has the reach to get close from the bleachers.

Would prefer Canon FD or Four-thirds as those are the adapters I've already gotten.

I find the 135mm length to be quite useful from the bleachers. I use the Zeiss Sonnar 135mm f/2.8 in Contax/Yashica mount, but there is a Canon FD 135mm f/2 which will be a stop faster.

For Four-Thirds, the Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 is a stunning lens. At the telephoto end it's a half stop slower than f/2.8 constant aperture lenses, but with the resolving power of this lens a bump in ISO will hold up well. You might also want to consider the Zuiko 150mm f/2, which is an amazing Super High Grade lens.

Another good lens for indoor sports, though from the bleachers this will give you a wider scene view, would be the Samyang/Rokinar 85mm f/1.4. The f/1.4 speed is what I like best for sports shots, allowing me to shoot under ISO1600 and still stop action. On a Four-Thirds camera you should still have sufficient DOF... assuming you're good with that focus ring of course.

It really depends on how close you are in the bleachers. Are you able to get right up front, where a 35mm or 50mm lens will be enough? Or are you far enough back that you will need a longer lens like a 135mm or 180mm? If you're looking for your FD mount, I'd hope that you can get to a good distance so that you can use large-aperture lenses like the:
FD 50mm f/1.4
FD 85mm F/1.2L or 85mm f/1.8
FD 100mm f/2.0
FD 135mm f/2.0

The fast-aperture lenses in 4/3 mount would be:
35-100mm f/2.0
150mm f/2.0
You'll have to use these lenses in manual focus mode, as their A/F performance on m4/3 bodies is not quite up to snuff yet, although Olympus has vocally expressed interest in bringing 4/3 users back in from the cold. They have acknowledged that they have two choices: either making an add-on module like Sony NEX did, or integrating on-sensor phase detect like Nikon 1 did, but they haven't admitted which solution they are involved in.

I'll second the 135 f2.8 legacy lenses which can be had at very reasonable prices. If you wanted to go a bit slower but more versatile, there are a number of nice 70-200 or thereabouts 3.8 or 4.0 MF lenses that are really nice. I shot an indoor soccer game with one of these, and it did pretty well, though I was shooting 800-1600 in order to get a decent shutter speed.

I'll second the 135 f2.8 legacy lenses which can be had at very reasonable prices. If you wanted to go a bit slower but more versatile, there are a number of nice 70-200 or thereabouts 3.8 or 4.0 MF lenses that are really nice. I shot an indoor soccer game with one of these, and it did pretty well, though I was shooting 800-1600 in order to get a decent shutter speed.

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The reason that I recommend f/1.4 and f/2.0 lenses is because in most "lesser" gymnasiums (high school, middle school, elementary), the lighting sucks. Even in some college-level gyms, I had to shoot at ISO 1600 wide open with a 50mm f/1.8 lens to maintain acceptable shutter speeds. If your lens starts to get too long, you may want to consider a monopod as well, to allow you to more quickly track motion while manually focusing.

The reason that I recommend f/1.4 and f/2.0 lenses is because in most "lesser" gymnasiums (high school, middle school, elementary), the lighting sucks. Even in some college-level gyms, I had to shoot at ISO 1600 wide open with a 50mm f/1.8 lens to maintain acceptable shutter speeds. If your lens starts to get too long, you may want to consider a monopod as well, to allow you to more quickly track motion while manually focusing.

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Ah, yes. I'm probably thinking a little too much about my own budget right now. But, you're right, if the reach is adequate a 50 1.8 is cheap and fast, and a 50 1.4 still a bargain.